Successfully land Curiosity at full structural integrity

Achievement Guide for Integrity

Achievement won on 16 Jul 12TA Score for this game: 96
Posted on 17 July 12 at 09:28, Edited on 12 August 12 at 16:41

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During the entry, the key seems to be staying away from the edges - turbulence doesn't damage you, it's the heat at the edges of the screen. When you stay central and it glows you'll hear the guy say "heat shields stabilizing", or "heat shields good". Those heat shields can absorb some of the heat damage the edge of the screen inflicts, but when they're depleted you take integrity damage. It was more important to quickly dart back to the middle after being hit by turbulence and regain some shield power than it was to try and stay within the circle all the time, making slight adjustments to your position whilst potentially taking heat damage. The trajectory maintained percentage is of no relevance to this achievement, so don't worry if it isn't at 100%.

*If you’re still having trouble with this, try munchmagic86’s method to allow yourself infinite time to reposition: “What I ended up doing was hitting the guide button on my controller just as turbulence hit then moving to the centre of the screen to get there superfast. It also helped using that if I had to reposition myself slightly.”

*CyberKnight offers some clarification for those still unsure of the exact workings of the guide button trick: “The trick with the guide button (if anyone else has the same trouble I did) is to hit it as soon as you see the turbulence knock the craft in one direction, then move a proportional amount in the opposite direction and hit the guide again. The capsule should be moving towards centre -- if not, hit the guide again immediately and correct your position. It is better to move too far than not far enough… I thought you could see your position when hitting the guide button and that you could move it while it was paused. It's really that you're setting the thrust direction and power, and it only takes effect when the guide is released.”

As far as I can tell, as long as you perform competently in the deployment phase you will not take any integrity damage. I initially assumed you could not be damaged during this section as no integrity percentage is shown at the end, however, if you miss numerous prompts I believe you can. It's very forgiving, though. This is the easiest part in my mind.

* Ham Salad, stefb42 and Chase357 have verified that it is not possible to take integrity damage during this section, no matter how many fails or misses you incur.

I've been told my landing method was unhelpful, so feel free to contribute your own and I'll add it with credit.

This is a bit risky, so perhaps practice the timing before trying with 100% integrity. I let Curiosity free-fall until the rover deploys, wait a second, then use both thrusters at full power (raise both arms). You should stabilize just above ground level, for a slow and easy landing. Don't aim for the centre of the target, or try to maneuver in any way, just go straight down as the accuracy doesn't matter for this achievement.

*CourseOfAction was able to sucessfully use this method, but suggests a safer approach: “I went for a safer method during the landing. I waited till Curiosity was deployed and at maximum cable length. That was my cue to raise my arms. It would then hover a few meters above ground and I could gently land it by lowering my arms and raising them just before touch down.”

Hope this was of some help; please give it a thumbs up if it was.

This is my first solution, so please be forgiving of any shortcomings and rather than criticise, let me know how I can improve it.Thanks.

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